Student Recruitment visit to Singapore October 2012

Transcription

1 Student Recruitment visit to Singapore October 2012 Zoe Cornell Marketing and Recruitment Coordinator CASS Marketing and Communications Office ANU College of Arts & Social Sciences

2 Executive summary Zoe Cornell from CASS Marketing and Communications visited Singapore from 19 October-23 October 2012 as part of the 2012 CASS international marketing and student recruitment activity plan. This recruitment trip was supported by a digital advertising campaign in Singapore using Google, and the development of new online resources for prospective students and agents. The purpose of this trip was to attend the IDP Study in Australia Open Day with the ANU delegation to promote arts and social sciences programs. Other ANU representatives who attended the IDP Open Day in Singapore included staff from: the Division of International and Student Recruitment (DIOSR), the ANU Colleges of Sciences (CoS), the ANU College of Business and Economics (CBE), the ANU College of Law (CoL), the Admissions Office, and the ANU College of Engineering and Computer Science (CECS). After China, Singapore is the second largest international feeder market for the College (see detail in international marketing and student recruitment activity plan). The College continues to engage with the Singapore market frequently to maintain awareness and grow interest in the College from prospective Singaporean students. The final attendance figures at the IDP Open Day showed that 2,049 people attended and a total 1,267 applications were received. ANU received 55 applications over the two day event. The College received 24 prospective student enquiries across a variety of disciplines and received a total of 3 applications (2 for the Bachelor of Politics, Philosophy and Economics and 1 for the Bachelor of Arts) from the event. This data does not capture students who applied after the event through the IDP office. Contact details for all prospective students have been captured and ongoing communication will be maintained through the monthly CASS newsletters. There was strong interest from polytechnic graduates as CASS received more enquiries from these students at the IDP Open Day as opposed to GCE A Level students. This interest from polytechnic graduates was also experienced by other ANU Colleges including CoS, CBE and CECS. However, in contrast to the CASS approach of requiring each application to be assessed on a case-by-case basis (other than for the Bachelor of Digital Arts where articulation programs are in place), these Colleges offer clear articulation arrangements and pathways into degrees. The secondary purpose of this visit was to meet with the University s international education agents and provide an update on all CASS programs, and to meet with prospective students and parents through these agents. The following agencies were visited during this trip: IDP, AUG and CMS. All of the agents were excited by the introduction of the Bachelor of Politics, Philosophy and Economics and the combined vertical degrees as they considered these to have strong links with career outcomes. This report contains detailed information about the recruitment activities undertaken in Singapore including feedback received from students, parents and agents, and recommendations on how future recruitment activity in Singapore could be improved. These recommendations include the development of articulation agreements with polytechnics, the promotion of key programs including the Bachelor of Politics, Philosophy and Economics and combined verticals, and the development of marketing materials with a clear focus on the career outcomes of CASS degrees, including using alumni profiles where appropriate. ANU College of Arts & Social Sciences

3 IPD STUDY IN AUSTRALIA EXPO Saturday 20 October 2012 ANU Representatives Elaine Ee, International Student Recruitment Officer, Division of International Operations and Student Recruitment Sarah Hawkins, Admissions Manager, Division of International Operations and Student Recruitment Jill Mayo, Student Administrator, College of Engineering and Computer Science Flora Mehr, Student Advisor, College of Business and Economics Jonathan Dampney, Student Recruitment Manager, College of Medicine, Biology and Environment and College of Physical and Mathematical Sciences Dr Sharyn Errington, Sub Dean, College of Medicine, Biology and Environment and College of Physical and Mathematical Sciences Zoe Cornell, Marketing and Recruitment Coordinator, Marketing and Communication Office, College of Arts and Social Sciences Haibei Feng, Administrator, Marketing and Outreach Office, College of Law. Country briefing- Presented by Daryl Fong, Country Director, Singapore It is predicted that the Singaporean economy will not be hit by the recession with growth figures of between 1.5% and 2.5% predicted. The Sing dollar achieved a high against the US greenback in the last 12 months. This may impact the number of students who choose to come to Australia compared with the US as an education destination. There are 200,000 Singaporeans living abroad with Australia being the main destination. Law and Accounting graduates are in demand in Singapore. Well qualified teachers are hard to find, and therefore there is a demand for primary and secondary education qualifications. NUS now has achieved very high rankings and is ranked #25 in the QS rankings and #29 in the Times ranking. Monash University was voted to have the best International Student prospectus by IDP. Amy Burton from the College of Business and Economics was nominated for an award for the Best Marketing Officer by IDP. Overall enquiries and applications 1200 people attended the event. The University of Melbourne, the University of Sydney, RMIT University and Monash University were all very busy. From ANU, the reps from CECS, CoS and CBE were all very busy early with a high number of enquires. ANU received 20 applications in total for the first day of the expo. Compared to Melbourne (80) and University of Queensland (88) this is quite low. This is because the application process through IDP for ANU only permits students to apply for a maximum of two universities on one application, while other universities allow students to apply for up to five universities on an application. CASS enquiries The College received a total of 10 enquiries for arts and social sciences programs. Feedback from the other ANU staff was that this was a favorable outcome for CASS when compared to previous years. The enquiries received include: Bachelor of Arts (4) Bachelor of Art History and Curatorship (2) Master of Globalisation (1) Bachelor of Environmental Studies (1) Bachelor of Politics, Philosophy and Economics (1) Bachelor of International Relations/Bachelor of Laws (1). 3

4 Many students who had been studying a Diploma of Mass Communication at various polytechnics in Singapore, including Ngee An Polytechnic, and Republic Polytechnic, enquired about the Bachelor of Arts but unfortunately because the College does not have any agreements with polytechnic graduates for this course we were unable to guarantee credit. CASS assesses credit for polytechnic graduates on a case by case basis, while other Colleges, including CECS, and CoS offer clear articulation. The University of Queensland is an example of a Go8 University which provides clear articulation into their Bachelor of Arts program, providing up to three semesters of credit for Diploma graduates, and this is something the College should consider for the Diploma of Mass Communication. Action items Follow up with students who made enquiries about the articulation arrangements and advise them to apply before 12 December Register prospective students to the CASS database. 4

5 IPD STUDY IN AUSTRALIA EXPO Sunday 21 October 2012 ANU Representatives Elaine Ee, International Student Recruitment Officer, Division of International Operations and Student Recruitment Sarah Hawkins, Admissions Manager, Division of International Operations and Student Recruitment Jill Mayo, Student Administrator, College of Engineering and Computer Science Flora Mehr, Student Advisor, College of Business and Economics Jonathan Dampney, Student Recruitment Manager, College of Medicine, Biology and Environment and College of Physical and Mathematical Sciences Dr Sharyn Errington, Sub Dean, College of Medicine, Biology and Environment and College of Physical and Mathematical Sciences Zoe Cornell, Marketing and Recruitment Coordinator, Marketing and Communication Office, College of Arts and Social Sciences Haibei Feng, Administrator, Marketing and Outreach Office, College of Law. Overall enquiries and applications ANU received 35 applications for the second day of the expo. 849 people attended the event CASS enquiries CASS received a total of 14 enquiries on the second day, despite the fact that the day got off to a very quiet start with very soft traffic in the first two hours of operation. Again we received many enquiries from students with a Diploma of Mass Communication from various polytechnics. The enquiries received include: Bachelor of Arts (8) Bachelor of Politics, Philosophy and Economics (1) Bachelor of Environmental Studies (1) Bachelor of International Relations (1) Bachelor of Visual Arts (1) Bachelor of Arts (Philosophy major) (1) Master of Archaeological Science (1) Action items Follow up with students who made enquiries about the articulation arrangements and advise them to apply before 12 December Register prospective students to the CASS database. 5

6 The below tables were supplied by IDP Table 1: overall applications by discipline Table 1 above shows the overall applications received by IDP over the two days of the event. The most popular disciplines were Business and Commerce (370) Science (270) Health Sciences (154) and Engineering (123) with Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences coming in at 5 th with 90 applications. As a percentage, the total number of applications received by IDP for Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences programs equated to 7% of total applications. Applications for CASS programs constituted 5.5% of total ANU applications received over the two day event. Table 2: overall applications by state Table 2 above breaks down the applications received across the two day event according to state. Victoria was the most popular state receiving 359 applications, followed by Queensland with 290 applications and New South Wales with 237 applications. ANU was the only institution from the ACT at the event and therefore all of the applications for the ACT were received by ANU. As an overall percentage of total applications received, ANU received 4.3% of all applications. 6

7 Monday 22 October 2012 Agent Meetings IDP Singapore ANU Representatives Elaine Ee, International Student Recruitment Officer, Division of International Operations and Student Recruitment Sarah Hawkins, Admissions Manager, Division of International Operations and Student Recruitment Zoe Cornell, Marketing and Recruitment Coordinator, College of Arts and Social Sciences Haibei Feng, Administrator, Marketing and Outreach Office, College of Law IDP Representatives Daryl Fong, Country Director Vivek Krishna, Senior Education Counsellor William Wijaya, Education Counsellor Samuel Yeo, Education Counsellor Cheryl Lee, Education Counsellor Seet Shu Ling, Education Counsellor Janan Lee, Education Counsellor Justin Arif P, Education Counsellor Alvin Tan, Education Counsellor Nurlisa Ng, Education Counsellor Amy Yeo, Education Counsellor Notes We met with the IDP office for an hour before the office opened to the general public. I delivered a presentation containing CASS program updates to all IDP representatives, including an update on the BPPE program which is doing quite well in the Singapore market. Sarah Hawkins gave an update on the admissions process and Haibei Feng gave an update from the College of Law. The agents were very impressed and excited by the BPPE and the new vertical combined degrees. The agents also highlighted that the main concern experienced by prospective students and their parents in regards to an arts degree, is the perception that the career outcomes aren t as strong when compared with degrees in business, science and engineering. This, therefore, needs to be a focus of CASS international marketing and recruitment messaging. Following the briefing session, the applications received by IDP for ANU were reviewed. In total there were 55 applications received, including three for CASS. CBE received the majority of applications with 28. Of the CASS applications, two were for the BPPE program, reinforcing the popularity of this program in the Singapore market. Action items Zoe to follow up with Bridget Tee regarding the BPPE application. Sarah and Elaine to fast track applications received at the event. Zoe to update the IDP ANU champion (Nurlisa Ng) regarding any updates to CASS programs. 7

8 Meeting with CMS Singapore ANU Representatives Elaine Ee, International Student Recruitment Officer, Division of International Operations and Student Recruitment Sarah Hawkins, Admissions Manager, Division of International Operations and Student Recruitment Zoe Cornell, Marketing and Recruitment Coordinator, Marketing and Communication Office, College of Arts and Social Sciences Haibei Feng, Administrator, Marketing and Outreach Office, College of Law CMS Representatives Justin Ma Jea Hue, Executive (Administration and Counselling) David Teo, Managing Director Notes During the visit to CMS I met with David Teo and Justine Ma. Justin come out to Australia in September as part of the ANU Agent familiarisation trip and is very familiar with and up to date on CASS programs. I provided Justin with a brief re-cap of key CASS programs including the BPPE, combined vertical degrees, changes to the music curriculum and the Master of Globalisation and passed on some marketing material relating to the BPPE and combined verticals. During this visit I also met with a prospective student who was applying for a packaged offer with ANU College to do the BPPE or Bachelor of Arts. The student attended with his parents and Elaine Ee gave an overview of ANU College while I gave an overview of the BPPE and the Bachelor of Arts. The student was very keen to study politics and philosophy and his parents were very excited by the BPPE, highlighting this program s popularity. Action items Zoe to follow up with Student Office regarding the intakes of the BPPE to determine if this will move to two intakes a year. Zoe to follow up with Student Office regarding the option to transfer from a BA to the BPPE after a Semester. Elaine to follow up with ANU College. 8

9 Meeting with AUG Singapore ANU Representatives Elaine Ee, International Student Recruitment Officer, Division of International Operations and Student Recruitment Sarah Hawkins, Admissions Manager, Division of International Operations and Student Recruitment Zoe Cornell, Marketing and Recruitment Coordinator, Marketing and Communication Office, College of Arts and Social Sciences Haibei Feng, Administrator, Marketing and Outreach Office, College of Law Flora Mehr, Student Advisor, College of Business and Economics AUG Representatives Nick Lim, Marketing Executive Amirah Juma in, Operations Executive Notes: During this agent briefing I provided an update to Nick Lim on the status of CASS programs and generally briefed Nick on CASS. Nick is only new to AUG so had limited knowledge of the programs. I in particular provided a brief of the Bachelor of Music and BPPE. Nick mentioned that he had only recently has had a student enquire about the Bachelor of Music, but unfortunately with the new entry requirements, her Singapore A level scores would not be high enough. Nick provided a brief overview of the market as he saw it. In general, interest in Arts is holding steady, but there is still the growing pressure from Singaporean parents for their children to pursue a traditional academic career, such as business and engineering. This is consistent with the feedback from the expo and from anecdotal feedback from agents and other recruitment staff members. A recommendation to remedy this could be the development of materials on combined Arts degrees with international student profiles, increased promotion of the vertical degrees, and marketing material that focuses on the career outcomes and opportunities for Arts graduates, including the internship opportunities through ANIP. Action items Zoe to provide Nick with any updates regarding CASS programs. Nick to cascade information from CASS briefing to all other AUG staff members in Singapore. 9

10 Key learnings and recommendations The below recommendations are in response to some of the key findings from the trip, including the need for articulation arrangements, the promotion of the BPPE and the vertical combined degrees and the development of marketing materials which focus on the career outcomes and opportunities for arts graduates. 1. Implementation of credit/articulation arrangements with Singapore polytechnics and development of associated marketing materials It is recommended that CASS implements some strong articulation/ credit arrangements with Singapore polytechnics offering diplomas that could be conducive to the Bachelor of Arts at ANU. We had numerous enquiries from graduates of the Diploma of Mass Communication that were very keen to study at ANU but possibly dissuaded by the fact that credit is assessed on a case by case basis. Compared to other Go8 universities, including the University of Queensland who offer up to 1.5 years credit for Arts, ANU is lacking in this respect. Representatives from the Colleges of Sciences, CECS and CBE were able to give all Diploma graduates assurance of their credit at ANU, which I believe helped them achieve very good application numbers. Students can be dissuaded by the lack of confirmed credit and this is inconsistent with the practices of other Colleges which have clearly defined practices in place for recognising credit. The College does have articulation arrangements with four polytechnics for the Bachelor of Digital Arts, but I did not receive any questions or enquiries about this program. If new articulation arrangements are implemented, it is recommended that the College considers visiting polytechnic students during the next recruitment visit to advise students of the pathways to ANU. This is due to the trend of students moving through polytechnic diplomas as a different pathway to GCE A Levels, due to the advanced standing/ credit that diploma graduates get as a pathway into university degrees.. As part of this strategy, it is recommended that promotional materials be developed outlining the pathways from a polytechnic diploma to a CASS degree. In particular it is recommended that consideration be given to the promotion of an articulation arrangement between students with a Diploma of Mass Communication and the Bachelor of Arts. This recommendation is supported by Elaine Ee from the International Recruitment Office and Sarah Hawkins, Admissions Manager. 2. Continue to promote the Bachelor of Politics, Philosophy and Economics (BPPE) in Singapore The feedback from the Singapore market was favorable in respect to the BPPE. This is primarily due to the elite status and strong educational history of this program across other elite universities including Oxford, Yale and Cambridge. 3. Continue to promote the combined vertical degrees in Singapore It is recommended that the University continues to promote the combined verticals in Singapore. The combined verticals were also well received by prospective students, their families and education agents, due to the ability of graduates to fast track a Master qualification. 4. Develop marketing materials that focus on career outcomes of CASS degrees Feedback from students, parents and agents in Singapore indicates that the career outcomes/ job prospects of a degree are a vitally important factor in decision- making. As a result it is recommended that any marketing material that is distributed in Singapore contains clear information about job prospects, internship opportunities through ANIP and profiles about Singaporean alumni who have studied that degree. 10